Weather/Conditions: Stunning spring weather! Would be hard for it to be any better, really.
Distance/Ascent/Time: 9.2km / 1150m / 4h 20m (2h 55m sans bouldering time)
Accompanying: Alone

I don't think I entirely intended on climbing these two hills this day. But I'm glad I did. I parked up below Sron na Creise with the intention of going to a boulder half way up the ridge, and to knock the Munro off. I'd take climbing shoes and chalk in my rucksack.

In the end I had a good afternoon working out the boulder problems, both completed and others for the future. And then the question came of what to do next? I've never had summit panoramas from these two Munros, the weather was perfect. A few months previously I'd climbed Meall a' Bhuiridh, so Creise was only outstanding on the Munro list.



I headed up Sron na Creise for the first time in seven years. It was one of my first scrambles and I recall feeling deeply unsettled on it. The exposure back in 2010 just got me. Now the thing seemed like a romp, but the rock quality is sometimes very good, and you can dive around differnt buttresses to give varying amounts of climbing.

Beyond that, I just flew up the high slopes of Creise, to find myself on top with a few others: a couple who were up together, and a solitary guy who never said anything.



Here I shot a panorama, one which was long sought after. It was a perfect day for it as well. But I'd sort of got into a groove, and felt it wasn't time to pack things in yet. So I headed for Meall a' Bhuiridh, jogging over the Creise plateau then down the east ridge. Once again, I hardly noticed the gentle rise to Meall a' Bhuiridh's summit in spite of burning legs. I shot a pano from here, one of the few Munros I'd not yet shot.

Down the north ridge, I dropped across Cam Ghleann and traversed across the foot of Creise to reach the car again.

It's great when days like this appear out of nowhere, when you follow a rising motivation to add a bit more on, then a bit more again. The day was fruitful too - I knocked another Munro off my third round, done some bouldering way up the side of Creise, and got two summit panos that had previously alluded me.

This day was also notable for being the first time I've ever had a run-in with the traffic cops, on the way home. Oops. Less said about that the better!

360° Panoramas

Creise


Meall a' Bhuiridh